Peter Venkman Wrote:
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> Fairfax cyclist and SUV driver identified
>
> Gary Anthony Thorne, 31, of Blue Gray Circle in
> Manassas, was the driver of an SUV that veered
> across Lee Highway Friday and hit and killed
> bicyclist Abdelouahid Chadli, 18, of Morrison Way
> in Fairfax.
>
> Fairfax police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings
> identified both victims Saturday and said police
> still do not know what caused Thorne's SUV to go
> out of control and onto the bike path. Thorne died
> after his vehicle hit a tree with such force that
> it took police hours to remove him from the crash
> scene.
>
> Jennings said she did not know the identity of
> another cyclist injured slightly in the accident
> or whether that person was related to Chadli.
>
> The accident happened just after 4 p.m. at Lee
> Highway and Forum Drive, according to police and
> occurred on Bike to Work Day.
> Jennings, the department's head spokeswoman, has
> said the driver apparently veered across six lanes
> of Lee Highway before jumping the Forum Drive
> curb.
>
> Chadli, who went by the nickname Abdul, lived in a
> townhouse on a street where other Northern African
> immigrants live. At the boy's home, dozens of
> shoes were lined up neatly at the entrance as
> mourners, many from the family's mosque, the
> Islamic Center for Northern Virginia on Shirley
> Gate Road, visited the grieving family. In the
> second floor apartment, women, their heads covered
> in flowing robes, consoled the boy's mother,
> Samira. But none would comment until the boy's
> father returned from the burial.
>
> "Everybody loved him. He was very funny, very
> popular," said the teenager's father, Mohammed
> Chadli, 58, who runs deliveries for UPS. Chadli
> said his son, the eldest of four sons, was a
> dedicated athlete who was always biking or working
> out in the gym. Abdel was a member of the Fairfax
> High School wrestling squad and also liked to
> swim. He had just received a package of high
> school graduation cards and was eager to mail them
> to family scattered around the U.S. He had been
> accepted at GMU and wanted to become a
> veterinarian, his father said.
>
> In a similar development a few miles away in
> Manassas, Thorne's stepfather, Kevin Griffin, 45,
> a warehouse worker, said Gary A. Thorne's family
> was mystified about the accident. Griffin said
> Thorne had no known medical condition that night
> have caused him to black out or lose control of
> the Dodge Durango, which he had owned without
> complaint for about a year. Griffin said Thorne
> drove his younger sister, Crystal, to work at a
> Checkers about 11:30 a.m. and no one heard
> anything from or about him until police arrived
> about 10 p.m. to notify them of the accident.
> Although Thorne had been laid off from his job as
> a forklift operator at a warehouse in Chantilly in
> April, he had leads on a new job and was planning
> to celebrate his 32nd birthday at a cookout Sunday
> at his father's in Mt. Airy.
>
> Thorne leaves behind a 10-year-old daughter.
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